2015 has been ushered in, from a municipal perspective at least, by two big-ticket good news/bad news stories.
In the first, New Years Day was the date chosen for Nanjing municipal government’s first ever “open house”, in which members of the public were permitted to tour the government buildings on Beijing Dong Lu. A total of 50 groups, each eight people, were led through the many buildings that comprise the seat of municipal power. The city’s Director of Public Relations, Mayor and Party Secretary Yang Weize were on hand to welcome the visitors and make brief introductions.
Yang Weize commented, “This is the first day we opened our doors to the public. They’re going to introduce Nanjing’s countryside, its cityscapes, course of development as well as its rich history”.
Little was Yang to know, just three days later, he would find himself detained by police. It emerged yesterday evening (5th Jan) that the Central Commission’s Discipline Inspection Department had commenced investigating Yang for alleged serious violations of the law, reportedly detaining him at Nanjing South Railway Station.
This latest investigation into a high ranking Chinese official of the CCP leaves a dirty smudge on the legacy of last year’s Youth Olympics in Nanjing and that of the Asian Youth Games in 2013; Secretary Yang was the Chairman of the YOG Organising Committee, appearing at numerous events and functions to bolster public support for the games, while he also made a cameo appearance in the movie about AYG volunteers “201314 Nanjing”.
Appearing to sport a more modern outlook than many more traditional officials, Yang also took an interest in the international community of Nanjing and worked hard to promote the image of Nanjing abroad, describing Nanjing Expat’s City Guide publication as “beautiful”.
Yang Weize was born in 1962 in Jiangsu’s Changzhou city, going on the join the Party in 1988. His first official role was that of clerk in the provincial Department of Transportation Planning and Programming, rising to become the department’s Deputy Director.
In 2000, he became Ministry of Transportation Director and joined the Suzhou Municipal Committee, latterly becoming the both the city’s Mayor and Vice Mayor. Moving west in 2004, he became Party Secretary of Wuxi in 2006, and Party Secretary of Nanjing in 2011.
The case continues.
